Lower Your Expectations
by LightningAnonymous
Summary: Lightning's dad finally gets arrested for his crimes and Lightning gets taken to a new home. The question is, who is he staying with? And will he be able to handle all his new issues now? Rated T for child abuse and cursing.


After Lightning got after the second elimination ceremony in All-Stars, he hated himself.

Lightning wasn't supposed to lose, not again! How did he get eliminated over Sierra, or, well, anyone?

He felt like a failure.

And as the boat to bring them all home left the docks, all he knew was that his dad was going to berate the hell out of him once he got back.

The boat stopped at Lightning's destination. He stepped onto the ground, waving to the others before the boat drove away.

He stepped up to his house door, turning the doorknob.

Click, click.

Locked. Great, he thought, huffing a sigh. Lightning knocked on the front door, leaning against the wall. A little bit later, his dad opened the door.

"You have some nerve coming back to this household after what happened to you." His dad snorted, crossing his arms. Lightning rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging.

"I don't have anywhere else to go-"

"Because everyone hates you."

Lightning flinched. His dad wasn't wrong- in Revenge of the Island, only Jo wanted him to win, and that was out of spite.

"You lost to a bubble-loving wimp that was half your size!" Lightning's dad yelled, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him against the outside wall. He coughed, arms pressing up against the wall. "No wonder everyone wanted you off so fast! You're annoying, weak, stupid, and most of all, a letdown of a child!" His dad spat, pushing him further against the wall. "You made me lose my championship rings over this stupid fucking show!"

His dad suddenly dropped Lightning's collar, letting his son sink down to the pavement. "Now head up to your room. You're grounded for the rest of the week." And then, his dad stomped back into the house, mumbling curses under his breath.

Lightning sat on the pavement for a moment, his eyes just staring blankly at the place where his dad had stood moments before.

You should've expected it, I guess. Lightning stood up, carefully walking into the house and into his room, which was on the far left side of the house.

The house wasn't anything special, it was your average one-story flat. Which meant Lightning got the smallest room of them all.

If he stood in the center of it, his arms almost touched the walls. He had two pillows and a blanket that was all too small.

He was desperate for some good rest. So, quietly, he crawled into his bed, curled up, and fell asleep.

Lightning was awoken by sirens. Loud, blaring, police sirens. He shot up out of bed, hearing yelling from downstairs. And then, there was someone banging on his door.

He hesitantly creeped out of bed, opening the door a bit and poking his head through the door. There were two men outside his door, wearing police uniforms.

"Are you Terell Jackson's son?" One of them asked, looking down at Lightning.

"Yes..?" He squeaked, the feeling of helplessness crawling into his stomach again.

"Come with us." The cop said. "Your dad is currently being arrested under charges of gambling on a minor and child abuse charges."

Lightning was more confused about how someone knew about what his dad had been doing than who-

Wait. The 30-second talk with a family member was on live TV.

He began to follow behind the two cops, watching as his dad was dragged out the door. Lightning stepped into the back of a cop car, sitting down hesitantly. As the door shut, he asked one of the more important questions swirling in his head.

"Who am I going to be staying with?"

The second cop started up the car, waiting for the other police car to drive ahead before they began driving. "You'll be staying with the family that helped get you out of here."

The other cop turned around in the passenger seat she was in. "You probably remember them from that shoe you were on. Does Cameron Corduroy Wilkins ring a bell?"

Immediately, every thought Lightning had before was shot down by one major thought. I am going to be staying with Cameron.

He froze up for a moment, then slowly nodded his head with an awkward smile. "Yeaahh." He stated, his voice quivering.

"Don't worry, Rudolph." The male cop said, turning a corner onto the main street outside the area. "Cameron's mom has been shown to be a very nice person and has no criminal record."

That wasn't Lightning's main concern at all. It's that he was about to live with the person who had made him lose.


End file.
